Stereotypes Are Bad Unless You’re A Progressive Enforcing Adherence To Them

By Linda Sarsour

We all agree stereotypes are horrible, with ethnic stereotypes being the worst of the worst. For that reason, we must always avoid falling into the trap of stereotypes, except when conforming to them becomes a signal of membership in an aggrieved group, in which case it is now a cardinal progressive sin to depart from the stereotype.

While it seems a complex bit of mental gymnastics, the dynamics are actually pretty straightforward. A simple example: one may not engage in stereotypes about Jews, unless one is serving a progressive cause such as Palestinian nationalism, under which Jews must be portrayed as white Europeans who have occupied and colonized a land that belongs to indigenous people of color. Therefore, any Jew who is also a POC – such as the roughly 50 percent of Jews whose ancestors lived in the Middle East, North Africa, various parts of Asia, and, yes, even Palestine, for thousands of years – must be shouted down, silenced, or ignored for violating the trope. Jews are white colonizers, not an indigenous people.

Similarly, an Arab who supports Israel and highlights facts that are inconvenient for anti-Israel arguments, such as the freedoms Arabs enjoy in Israel that they can only dream of having anywhere in the Arab or Muslim world, must be dismissed as a shill, a sellout, a traitor, or worse. As an Arab, I can tell you, you must embrace your oppressed status. It’s what makes you who you are. What kind of dignity could you possibly have if you’re not constantly dominated and exploited by whites?

It doesn’t only apply to ethnicities. To stay with the Israel context for the moment – not that you could say any of us progressives are obsessed with the issue – the progressive principle of Intersectionality means sexual orientation and gender must be seen through the lens of oppression, and awkward facts such as Israel’s openness toward non-cisgender, non-heteronormative assumptions must be reframed as calculated, devious machinations aimed at distracting from the nature of Israel as Oppressor, lest the irredeemable evil of Israel not look so irredeemable. Complexity is our enemy.

On women’s issues, as well, women must accept their identity as victims of discrimination. Any woman who claims to have experienced no such treatment, or who chooses not to use those experiences as pretexts for failing to achieve economic, political, or professional success, has betrayed the cause of women everywhere. How dare she violate the stereotype of victimhood that serves our entitlement?

Me, though, I can identify as a Person of Color or a white person at my whim. I’m liberated that way.

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